This week’s intro letter is by Renovaré Content Manager Grace Pouch.

Dear friends,

Last night I went to the movie theater alone. I saw Oppenheimer, and I went alone because my husband thought it would be sad. (It was.) I don’t want to spoil the movie by telling you the last line, but suffice it to say, the creator of the atomic bomb is understandably grieved by the repercussions of his life’s work.

Maybe it’s this movie weighing heavily on my heart, or maybe it’s that I turn 41 in four days, but the spiritual significance of work is on my mind. Each birthday, I feel a new urgency to reach that unity of purpose that Jesus modeled in his work — ​“he did nothing of his own accord. His words were the words of the Father; his deeds, the deeds of the Father.” (John 5, Richard Foster’s paraphrase in this article.)

Work, whether big or small, paid or unpaid, is valued on the heavenly scale by whether it aligns with God’s purposes — an alignment we come to by centering our lives on Jesus. The timing, the attitude, and the quality of our efforts are thrown off if we lack that center. 

Mary, the sister of Martha, modeled this well. You’ll remember that when Jesus came to visit these friends, Martha was ​“deaconing” hard — you know, serving, doing ministry work — all good stuff. But all her effort was centered on her own agenda, her own anxious concerns. 

Mary, however, sat herself down at Jesus’ feet to listen — in the posture of a disciple. 

From her attentiveness to Christ, wonderful action flowed. (We make a mistake to think of Mary as only passive). She is the one who poured perfume on Jesus’ feet and dried them with her hair (John 12). Beautiful, costly work. Some said it was wasteful, but Jesus upheld Mary’s act as important work that prepared him for his burial. 

Wow. Talk about being aligned with the purpose of God! 

Everyone else around Jesus seemed to be working against his movement toward the cross — trying to stop him because they thought it wasn’t good for him (or for them). Well, maybe Mary was the one person paying attention. She accepted and she supported what he was about.

And that is a vision of work I want to hold onto: To accept and to support what Jesus is about. Our content this week has been selected to help you and me learn to do that better. 

Lord, help us to keep You at the very center of our lives, and unite our work with Your will. Amen.